Hobby Farm Animals. Chris McLaughlin
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calves purchased in the fall will be ready for butchering when they are between sixteen and thirty months of age, depending on the breed and your feeding program. This means that a male calf bought after fall weaning could be ready for the processor as soon as the following fall. Heifer calves bought after fall weaning will be ready to breed the following summer, provided they grow well through the winter and spring.
Any calves you buy should have been weaned for at least three weeks. They should also have received their nine-way vaccines, followed by boosters two to four weeks later. Heifers should be wearing small metal ear tags to show that they’ve had brucellosis vaccinations. Bend down and look behind steer calves to make sure that the castration got both testicles, or you could have a bull on your hands by mistake.
If you want cattle around just for the summer, you can buy steers in the spring and sell them in the fall. If you’re buying for your own freezer or to sell as finished (ready-to-slaughter) cattle, they should be started on grain right away. They’ll quickly learn to come running in from the pasture for their daily grain rations.
If you’re buying breeding stock—whether cows, heifers, or a bull—finding high-quality cattle is more important than if you’re raising cattle for processing. Start the search early and take the time to find out about different breeders. If you’re planning on showing cattle or enrolling your kids in the 4-H beef program, look for operations with good show records. If your objective is to get a decent cow-calf herd started, it’s more important to find sellers with calm, clean, reasonably good-looking cattle.
Another option is to buy dairy bull calves. They will produce fine beef. However, it takes a lot more grain to fatten them up, the cuts aren’t as nicely shaped, and there’s a smaller proportion of meat to bone and by-products. Since only cows give milk, bull calves are not viable in dairy operations and are generally sold sometime between three days and a few weeks old. Consequently, they aren’t weaned, so you’ll have to bottle-feed them milk until their digestive systems are mature enough to handle grain and forage. Although they’re a lot of extra work, these calves are available year-round, are very inexpensive compared with all other cattle, and can be transported in the back of a van.
Occasionally, you may be able to buy an orphaned beef calf or one that’s been rejected by its mother. Some dairy farmers breed their heifers to a beef bull for easy calving with their first calf, and these half-beef, half-dairy calves are a bargain.
As herd animals, cattle thrive in each other’s company.
What to Look for in Cattle
The only way to acquire an eye for good cattle is to look at a lot of cattle. It takes a few years to develop that eye, but there are some things that beginners can spot. Cattle get a little nervous when a stranger shows up in their pasture or pen, so give them time to settle down again. Lean on the fence or stand quietly in the pasture and take a good, long look at their shape and how they act.
Shape
Whatever the breed, beef cattle should ideally look thick and square, like big, hairy rectangular boxes on legs. While a dairy cow will look like a wedge, with the narrow part at the front, a beef cow should be blocky. The back should be straight and the line of the belly nearly so, not tapering too sharply up to the hind legs, with a rib cage that is rounded, not flat. The hindquarters should look broad and meaty, especially in steers and bulls, and the legs should be straight. Hooves should be even and short, definitely not so long that they curl upward, and they should point straight ahead.
Steers should have thick necks and fleshy forequarters. Cows and heifers should be slimmer through their shoulders and necks and have more feminine heads. Cows should have high, well-shaped udders. Both sexes should have wide muzzles, indicating that they can take big bites of grass.
The Red Poll is a naturally hornless breed whose numbers have dwindled.
Health
Look closely for any signs of illness or discomfort. Eyes should be clear, not mattered (crusted) or inflamed.
In summer, the coat should be smooth and shiny (except in long-coated breeds). A dull, flat-looking coat generally means internal parasites or poor nutrition. In late fall, winter, and spring, the coat should be uniform and thick. Bare spots could mean ringworm; although rarely a huge problem, it is a chore to treat.
| Did You Know? Three breeds of cattle possess the attractive and very distinctive “Oreo cookie” coloring—black except for a broad white band around the middle: the Dutch Belted, the Belted Galloway, and the Buelingo. The breeds differ from each other, however, in other characteristics and uses. The Dutch Belted was a prized dairy breed in the United States until about 1940, whereas the Belted Galloway, probably descended in part from the Dutch Belted, is primarily a beef breed. The Buelingo is a uniquely American beef breed developed during the 1970s and 1980s by North Dakota rancher Russ Bueling, primarily from Shorthorn and Chianina genetics. |
Pay special attention to hooves and legs, checking for growths or swelling, especially at the tops of the hooves and at the joints. There should be no swelling of the jaw, neck, shoulders, or brisket.
An occasional cough in adult cattle usually isn’t anything to worry about (cows do get colds and runny noses), but constant coughing signals problems. I’d hesitate before bringing any coughing animal home to my herd. In young calves, constant coughing or labored breathing may indicate pneumonia, a dangerous condition.
Check the hind ends of calves to make sure they aren’t matted with manure. Manure that is more water than feces is typical of scours, another common and dangerous affliction of young calves.
Polled cattle are naturally hornless, but if you’re buying a horned breed that has been dehorned, make sure that the spot is well healed and not sprouting any more horn.
How Cattle Are Priced and Sold
The pricing and availability of cattle generally follow a yearly cycle, which varies by the age and sex of the animals. Calves and steers are usually sold by weight, whereas heifers and cows for breeding are sold either by weight or by what the market will bear.
Bulls are normally priced according to their quality or what the owner thinks he or she can get. Bulls are most expensive in the spring and early summer, when they’re in high demand for the breeding season, and cheaper in the fall.
Feeder calves—those that have been weaned and are ready to go on pasture or on a finishing ration—are usually least expensive in late fall, when the market is flooded with calves born the previous spring that are being sold before winter. Stockers or backgrounders (feeder calves headed for a few months on pasture before going on a finishing ration) are expensive in the spring, when landowners are buying cattle to keep their pastures grazed during the growing season.
Open, or unbred, heifers will be most expensive in spring, just before breeding season; the price tapers off through fall, when they’re cheap because it’s not economical to winter an open heifer. In addition, a heifer that didn’t “settle,” or get bred, during the summer may be infertile and good only for being finished and slaughtered. Bred cows will be most expensive in the spring, just before calving, and cheaper in the fall, when you will have to feed them through the winter. Before buying a bred cow, always have a veterinarian check to see whether she is really pregnant.
Cattle prices are listed, usually weekly, in local and state farm papers. If you have a farm radio station in your area, you can typically find prices being announced daily or weekly, and some state extension services list current cattle prices on their websites. Cattle prices are listed either as dollar and cents per pound or as dollars and cents per hundredweight. If, for example, I were looking for feeder calves, I would look down the column until I came to that category under the listing for the auction barn closest to my farm, and then I’d start with the midrange,